Homemade pumpkin soup made from scratch makes me so happy. It is one of my favorite comfort foods during the fall season. I can’t take credit for the cute pumpkin bowl idea though, that was all my husband! One day when I was working on something for my blog, he said “Why don’t you make pumpkin soup and serve it in a pumpkin?” Brilliant! I have never seen that before, but he told me his mom has done it before. I thought this was such a cool idea, so today I went to Safeway and bought some pumpkins. I also decorated the tops with “spider webs” using cream (see tutorial in the instructions part of the recipe). Here are some things I learned during the process of making the pumpkin soup from scratch:

1) You don’t need to buy the biggest pumpkin in the patch…a medium one will do just fine.

2) Wear gloves.

3) After watching a “How to Skin a Pumpkin” video on YouTube, don’t think you can do it in 3 minutes too since it looked so incredibly easy when the pro chef did it…oops.

4) Dedicate at least 20 minutes for wrestling with your pumpkin, trying to cut all the skin off, scooping out the seeds, and chopping it up.

Sooo although this was one of the more challenging dishes I’ve made, in the end it was SO WORTH IT. My husband and I both agreed this has been the best soup I have ever made. Too bad it involves so much work, but pumpkin soup from scratch tastes 1000000000x better than just using canned pumpkin. Its amazing.

Skin pumpkin (YouTube a video for the "easiest" way, but be patient...), then slice in half and use an ice cream scooper to remove the pulp and seeds (keep the seeds for later use, yum!).

Chop the pumpkin until you reach 4 cups, then add to the pot.

Add chicken broth, sugar, cayenne pepper and ginger, then stir.

Cover and bring to a boil, then turn down heat the medium and let boil for about 30 minutes (pumpkin should be soft).

Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes, then transfer to a blender using a ladle (you may have to transfer half at a time) and puree. I pulse the second portion to give it a little more texture.

Transfer pumpkin puree back to pot and stir in coconut milk. Reheat on low if needed.

Serve in a soup bowl or carved out pumpkin bowl.

For spider web topping, add sour cream and milk to a plastic squeeze bottle and shake well. When you turn it over only one or two drops should come out slowly, then you have the right consistency. Add more sour cream to thicken if needed. Then, slowly draw a few circles on the soup and use a wooden stick or small straw to squiggle lines from the center out, pulling the web out.

You may need to draw over where the lines broke with the squeeze bottle.

I always love pumpkin soup served in pumpkins! I first learned about it back in the 1970s – Paul Bocuse was famous for doing it, and I doubt if the idea was original with him. Anyway, you’ve done a spectacular job with it! Good recipe, excellent presentation. Good stuff – thanks.

The small {ususlly “Sugar Baby” variety} are also really neat for making pumpkin custards. Just put all your fav ingredients, ie. pumpkin pie spice, or orange zest, cardamom, a few cinn sticks, a few whole cloves, brown sugar, heavy cream {or sweetened condensed milk}, real maple syrup, pecans or walnuts, pistachios, almonds {depends on your spice mix}, raisins or dried cherries, cranberries INSIDE the cleaned pumpkin…you get the idea. Open the top of pumpkin, scoop out the seeds & strings, add your fillings, wrap the pumpkins in heavy duty foil and place on a baking sheet in preheated oven set at 350. Baking times are based on size & amount of filling. simply peel foil & pierce the outside with a fork near the bottom, if tender they are ready to serve!! You can also use a large pumpkin for a family style desert. Don’t forget to serve with a knife so your guests can slice it & be able to scoop some pumpkin along with the filling; if very small pumpkins, serve with a side of ice cream.

Hi Kristianne… just thought I’d share an easy way to cook your pumpkin. Wash your pumpkin and cut it in half. Scoop all the seeds (and save them to roast later)…. and stringy thingies (toss THAT mess in the trash). Place the halves cut side down on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350* oven until you can pierce the skin with a fork (30 minutes or so). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Scoop the insides into a bowl and proceed with your scrumptious dish (or cover and refrigerate). Some people use the microwave to steam it. Another good and easy way (though not fast) is slicing the pumpkin into large chunks into a crock pot with an inch or so of water in the bottom, letting it cook all day while at work… which loosens the skin without a lot of sweating or knife play involved. 🙂 Sometimes the skin slips right off! (The crock pot works great for skinning sweet potatoes and yams, too) Now back to the seeds. Rinse well… then soak them in a bowl of salt water in the fridge overnight. Preheat oven to 375*. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Drain the seeds on a paper towel to blot up excess moisture, then spread a layer in the pan and bake about an hour or so, stirring every now and then until desired crunch achieved. Let cool. Store in covered container… or snack away. Yum

It’s a snowy day here in New Hampshire and I had some frozen real pumpkin in the freezer from the fall, so thought I’d try this recipe. I just finished a bowl of the most delicious pumpkin soup I’ve ever had! The coconut milk gives it a great, rich, unusual flavor! Delish! So glad I came across this recipe!